Sustainability has become an important element in business operations in all industries. What once may have simply felt like a fad has now become a key component of successful business for a variety of reasons.
What are the benefits of being a sustainable business? Here are a few examples of how prioritizing sustainability efforts can pay off for your company:
- Image: This is probably the least important benefit of sustainability in business but one that’s still worth mentioning. Prioritizing sustainability in operations is good for your brand image. Multiple surveys have found companies that make sustainability a priority are more likely to have favorable images among consumers and that consumers are more likely to actively seek out or purchase from such companies.
- Improved productivity: Sustainable business practices create more efficient operations, which helps to conserve resources.
- Reduced costs: Various sustainable measures help to reduce costs of operation. For example, lowering fuel or energy usage can go a long way toward ensuring significant cost savings—even when an initial investment is necessary to make those savings possible—such as improved insulation or purchasing LED bulbs.
- Reduce waste: Sustainable practices help to reduce waste, which prevents items from unnecessarily sitting in landfills or polluting the environment. Waste mitigation also results in less use of raw materials and conservation of natural resources.
- Attractive to employees and investors: Sustainable practices aren’t just attractive to customers—they’re also attractive to potential employees and investors. You can position your company as being conscious of its impact on the environment and find employees that have your same company values. Investors also frequently look for sustainability as a key initiative before they give any money to a company.
- Regulatory compliance: Federal regulations are constantly changing for sustainability and environmental issues. Businesses that have a constant focus on sustainability are poised to much more consistently achieve regulatory compliance, which means fewer concerns about potential fines or other hassles that could affect your organization’s operation.
How to increase my sustainability in my business
There are a variety of methods for increasing sustainability in a business. The ones that are best suited for your company will depend on the kind of operations you have.
For example, simply changing out light bulbs can help significantly reduce energy usage. LED bulbs require much less energy to deliver light than standard incandescent bulbs.
Other common practices include using automatic faucets and low-flow toilets and fixtures, using recycled materials in building projects, installing high-efficiency HVAC systems, maximizing the amount of natural light within business spaces and performing regular maintenance on key pieces of equipment.
Businesses should also look into methods of waste management that meet green standards and help those companies reduce their waste and their overall environmental impact.
Interested in learning more about increasing your business’s sustainability and the benefits that it can have on your organization? Contact our team at CIWA Inc., and we will be pleased to answer any questions you have about the specific strategies that are most likely to benefit your business.